This is a powerful history of the lives of five women who were leaders in the struggle for women's rights in the United States. But Baker's project is more than just a retelling of key moments in this struggle. Rather, she reveals details from the personal lives of the women about whom she writes that serve to illuminate the struggle for women's rights in our country.
I particularly liked the chapter on Alice Paul: her leadership of the National Women's Party and subsequent efforts to get President Wilson to support a constitutional amendment giving women the vote make her one of the most noble figures in American history in my view. Baker is able to root Paul's deep commitment To justice in her Quaker upbringing. The Quaker tradition holds that souls have no gender, and therefore women had an equal role as men in Paul's upbring. This deep philosophical point is one we can learn from today; I am surprised it hasn't been used or publicized more in the ongoing struggle for marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Good history makes events of long ago accessible and pertinent to the reader. In Sisters, Baker has given us some very good history.
I particularly liked the chapter on Alice Paul: her leadership of the National Women's Party and subsequent efforts to get President Wilson to support a constitutional amendment giving women the vote make her one of the most noble figures in American history in my view. Baker is able to root Paul's deep commitment To justice in her Quaker upbringing. The Quaker tradition holds that souls have no gender, and therefore women had an equal role as men in Paul's upbring. This deep philosophical point is one we can learn from today; I am surprised it hasn't been used or publicized more in the ongoing struggle for marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Good history makes events of long ago accessible and pertinent to the reader. In Sisters, Baker has given us some very good history.
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